Micha Kaufman, Contributor
In the mid-90s, ARPANet was transformed from a military safety net to the civilian Internet that has become such an integral part of our lives, bringing with it change not only technological, but societal and epic in scope.
Consider the following:
Forty years ago, the average person followed an employment path largely determined by birth and education, often committing to one employer until retirement. Today you probably wouldn’t even consider that as a viable option. Success is no longer solely determined by the right education, the perfect resume, or even your age and background. Teens as young as 12 are now coding websites, producing films and building networks through social media. By the time they’re adults, this online generation will already have some skills and real-world experience that a formal education just can’t provide.
The Internet is bringing a revolution along with it. Access to information combined with global supply and demand is reshaping established conventions and destroying old world definitions.
To understand where I am going with this, take the word ‘local.’ It once referred to your own street, town or even the state you lived in, but noweverywhere is local. Americans are outsourcing their services to companies from China to Brazil, all from the comfort of their own homes. Where once our reach was limited by physical boundaries, today almost everyone and everything is just a digital handshake away.
To understand where I am going with this, take the word ‘local.’ It once referred to your own street, town or even the state you lived in, but noweverywhere is local. Americans are outsourcing their services to companies from China to Brazil, all from the comfort of their own homes. Where once our reach was limited by physical boundaries, today almost everyone and everything is just a digital handshake away.
Long established workplace conventions – from defined office hours to physical office space – are being tossed out the window. Success was once defined by a suit and the ‘9 to 5’; now it can achieved by working in pajamas and starting at noon after a morning at the gym and leisurely latte. The very definition of ‘success’ is now drastically changing. It once meant a “keeping up with the Joneses” lifestyle your neighbors would be envious of; now it’s about making personal, intimate choices about how to live your life. Of course some still associate it purely with wealth, but for many, success is being measured in other ways –happiness, freedom, health, more time for travel and family.
Interconnected societies are the global engine that transforms people from employees to micro entrepreneurs. Anyone now has the opportunity to monetize their skills, from the full-time worker looking for additional income to the once hobbyist building their very own business. True change affects both young and old, and while 15-year old hedge fund managers may capture the imagination, we’ve got 80-year old entrepreneurs grabbing headlines too. It’s truly an uncontested market where talent, skills and experience become commodities outside the narrow boundaries of traditional employment (if such a thing as “traditional” even exists anymore).
As we engage in a century where everyone is not only a global citizen, but a valuable “Brand in Waiting,” we begin to understand that the Internet Revolution IS in fact the Industrial Revolution of our time. It’s a sweeping social disruption that brings with it not only new inventions and scientific advances, but perhaps most importantly revolutionizes both the methods of work and we the workers ourselves.
It’s the return of personal choice and personal definitions of value, as we increasingly define ourselves by the work we produce rather than being defined only by the work available.
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